River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-03-31
A STORY OF DUBLIN.

After the Rebellion of 1898 a number
Of unfortunate rebels were executed in
the City of Dublin, and the scene OF
their last agony was, in general, one OF
the bridges which then spanned the
Liffey. Thus Carlisle Bridge, Church
Street Bridge (as then named), Queen :
Bridge, and Bloody Bridge all had
their records of hangings and behead-
ngs; and most of them were for some
time adorned with CHASTITY trophies in
the shape of the heads of notorious in
surgents. At this period. too, vast
numbers of wretched peasants, who
were suspected OF completely in the in
surrection, were daily slaughtered by
the hands of the yeomary. cavalry and
other troops which secured all the sur.
rounding country.
The bodies of these poor wretche:
were publicly exposed in various part.
of the city. Very many were to be
seen lying in front Of the Royal Bar
racks. In the Castle-Yard they were LAID
in rows as the yeomanry brought then
in. Burial in 4 regularly consecratec
graveyard was refused, and a huge hole
being dug in the muddy bank which
then bordered the Liffey, opposite the
Royal Barracks, the corpses were flung
in wholesale, and this dismal sepulchrt
was long known as the "Croppies
Hole" or "Croppies' Acre" When
the course of th Liffey was straight
ened, and the present walls and quay
built, this Croppies' hole in great par
was taken into the Esplanade, which
now forms the front of the Royal Bar
racks, and at present there is no trac,
whatever of this burial ground to b,
discovered.
For many years succeeding this mel
ancholy period Dublin was left to tn,
care of the Old Watch There wer,
watch-houses at the junction of PrusSi;
street, Backhouse land, and Stoney bat
ter-at the junction Of King street ant
Church street. and also at the end o
Queens Bridge. as well as i'm Other
localities. The Litfey wound its serpen,
tine course between long banks of mud
with here and there a landing-plac,
for boats. one of these existed between
Bloody Bridge and Queens Bridge
close to Oxmanstown Green, and here
a gravel walk led down to q regular
slip. where river wherries piled fol
hire.
The Irish nature has ever been prone
to put much faith i'm supernatural
events, and it is not surprising that
for long after the sanguinary period
succeeding 1898, the neighborhood Oi
the Lifiey, and especially the bridges
and the locality about the Croppie:
hole, bore a very bad name: and few
men were to be found brave or rockies,
enough to venture alone by night in
these places. As l have alre2dy
mentioned, there was, at the end OF
Queens Bridge, a small watch-house
erec,ed to act merely as Temporal
shelter for the men on duty, and not in
tended to be used in any way as a res
ideroe. 1t is in refer ence to this
watch-house that the following start
ling narrative is related. 1t was the
rule that there should always be one
man in this watch-house, who acted as
a sort of guard or sentinel, and whose
duty it was to remain awake all night
on the qui vive ready to attend to any
messages delivered and to admit any
other Waterman who might come on
duty or for temporary shelter and rest.
Late the afternoon of a certain day
at theSperiod when the thirst for ven
geance on the Insurgents was at its
hight there had been an execution
carried out on the Queens Bridge. A
young, athletic, and handsome fellow
had been hanged over the parapet OF
the bridge, and as usual his body was
left to swing for some hours. The sun
had set as the rebel was strung up. and
darkness fell Immediately. which caused
the crowd of idle spectators which had
assembled to witness the spectacle to
scatter quietly, as no man cared to be
the last to leave the CHASTITY scene once
night had dropped. Consequently,
within an hour after the execution the
bridge was perfectly solitary, and as the
darkness became intense it was impOs-
sible to distinguish from either side Of
the river even the outline of the rude
scaffoid on which the unfortunate vic
tim had suffered.
At this hour one Waterman alone oc-
cupied the station ut the Pembroke
quay opening to the bridge, This was "a
man named Peter Doherty, tough old
veteran, who had been a trooper, and
had seen many bloody field, and had
faced death in many a terrible see of
He was of undaUnted cour-
are, reckless, devil-may-care old cask
who was fond of bis glass, and always
took care TO be well provided with
goodly supply of rum in an immense
Dutch bottle, which was never abser.
from his pocket. The fact that
corpse was swinging on a gallOws with
in "a few yards had not the slightest
effect upon Peters nerves. He had
drawn in front Of good fire a short
form or long stool, and on this he was
seated. smoking a short pipe at inter
walls. and occasionally taking a pull at
MS rum flask, while he hummed a bar
or two OF some old campaigning ditty-
1t happened that Peter got up to
light his pipe at a candle which burned
on table 10y the window, and when he
urned round to resume his seat on the
stool he was very much surprised to per
ceive that it was already occupied by
female, who sat in an attitude Of grief,
her face buried in her hands, and her
body swaying to and fro, as if she was
weeping bitterly, though Peter heard
no sound.
The door OF the house was closed,
and the Waterman could not under
stand how his visitor lad entered and
taken her seat without attracting his
attention.
He observed that she wore the dress
Of . person of some quality, and from
her figure he judged she must be young.
Peter approached and said;